Solutions that don’t break the bank, reinvent the wheel or marginalize our teachers are within our grasp. We could have rigorous classes, safe and disciplined schools and treat teachers like valued colleagues rather than easily replaceable cogs, and we could do so tomorrow if we wanted. Disclaimer, this is an opinion and commentary site and should not be confused as a news site. Also know that quite often people may disagree with the opinions posted.

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Putting the Tony Bennett scandal in context.

When
you red the following e-mails from Tony Bennett to his staff so he could have
the grade of a donor’s charter school raised, think about them this way.
Imagine instead they are from a principal who had been talking about a scholar
athlete in his school and then suddenly he realized the kid was a C student.
Imagine then that the principal wanted to protect his reputation at all costs.

"They need to understand that anything less
than an A for Christel House compromises all of our accountability work,"

"This
will be a HUGE problem for us," Bennett wrote in a Sept. 12, 2012, email
to Neal.

Neal fired
back a few minutes later, "Oh, crap. We cannot release until this is
resolved."

"I am more than a little miffed about
this," Bennett wrote. "I hope we come to the meeting today with
solutions and not excuses and/or explanations for me to wiggle myself out of
the repeated lies I have told over the past six months."

When
Bennett requested a status update Sept. 14, his staff alerted him that the new
school grade, a 3.50, was painfully close to an "A." Then-deputy
chief of staff Marcie Brown wrote that the state might not be able to
"legally" change the cutoff for an "A."

"We
can revise the rule," Bennett responded.

Do you feel a little dirty? Do you think the
principal would be allowed to keep his job?